Basically the missus has a Palm Pre on a 24 month contract with O2 (500 mins, 500 texts and unlimited Web I think). She signed up around Oct/Nov last year.

She's happy with the cost and length of contact and tariff and has even added an extra text bundle.

She likes the handset for its unified messaging (if thats what you cal it) and the way it ties in Facebook and her Hotmail, etc. It does clever things with your contacts, supports multi-tasking and the touch works really well.

All good so far. But....

Within a day or two of having the phone she had to take it back. It was crashing/rebooting all the time. She went back to the shop who performed a software update and sent her on her way. She met me an hour later after work and the phone was crashing. We both went to the shop and they gave her a new handset.

Problems persisted with the phone and she want back to the shop again within a couple of weeks. They did whatever they did (??) and gave her it back. They said she could swap for an iPhone as it was within 14 days but she didnt want an iPhone - she's not a gadget/tech person at all and just wanted a phone, text, facebook and email. The Palm was a better option for her.

Its not March and the phone continuily plays up. Given then she gave birth in Decemeber we havent been back to the shop yet. The handset crashes, hangs when selecting apps, needs reboots (15 mins a time), and becomes unresponsive. Its shockingly bad.

I have updated it to the latest 1.4 Palm OS which adds extra features like video on the camera. It seemed to be better actually for a few days and we were hopefull but now its back to its old tricks again.

Now I dont know what to do. She's tied into 2 years with the phone but given the damn thing doesnt work do you think there's an argument for making O2 do something about it? Having another Pre isnt going to change anything so whats the options? Swap for an iPhone or cancel the contract maybe? I dont think they'll be willing to do either now.

Any suggestions, advice, experience would be helpful

Sounds like a clear cut case of the product being faulty and not fit for purpose, which in turn means you cannot use the services you paid for. Go back to 02, explain why you haven't been back (a child is more important than replacing a handset) and go from there. If they hold their ground, take it further up the chain.

Not had an iPhone myself, but those who have one say it's reasonable, though I've also been told it's a bugger for texting.

Cancelling your contract might be more difficult; the charge at this stage will be immense. However, downgrading it, along with the model of phone, would probably be something they'd do for you under the circumstances.

Keep us posted.

Oh yeh I forgot to mention that. The main reason she didnt want an iPhone was because she wanted a physical keyboard.

I'm going to try to convince her to pop into the shop today and see what they say about it being not fit for purpose. I'm just around the corner at work if she needs some back up

I have not had a look on-line but have you searched to see if anyone else is having issues as if they are that could strengthen your case.

Having said that under sale of goods act the phone is not fit for purpose and as it’s a two year contact it must be fit for 2 years. ( it might be longer but no need to worry about that)

Go back to the shop ask them to either fix it or replace it with a similar handset

If they refuse to do either then you can cancel the contract although you may need to take them to the small claims court before they back down

Keep us informed

Lots of people have had issues with rebooting due to an ill fitting battery. Performance complaints seem quite common too.



They've 'fixed' it once (software update), replaced it once and I've 'fixed' it again (another software update). I dont want to get involved in a merry-go-round of reboot, patch, fix, replace for the next 2 years.



I actually hope it doesnt come to this as although its a little expensive she really likes the unlimited web browsing, etc and is happy with the tariff, its the handset that's the problem.

Keep us informed[/quote]

I'll keep you posted.

TBH it depends on the shop you got it from.

If it's the O2 shop then they should be fairly reasonable.

If you explain the issues you have been having and suggest a resolution (i.e. I like the contract and the length of it but the phone is no good. If I was able to swap to an iPhone (or some other phone) I'd be happy). The way you have already said that you are happy with the contract (a plus for them) and it means that they don't have to search for a resolution as you have stated what you would like.

If the swap is something that they offered in the past then I can't see them being too arsey about it although you may have to go up the chain to get it sorted.

She cant come to town today so I drafted and email for her to send to O2 (she wont speak to them as they'll just fob her off tbh) and I've asked Consumer Direct if there's any information or advice they can give (as I'm pretty sure she wont get much joy with O2, although maybe I'm not giving them chance due to previous experience ).

Updates to follow....

Update....

O2 support have given Nicola instructions to follow to test/restore the phone. Step one was to run the phone built in diagnostic (hardware) which it passed. (tbh I think its a software issue). Step two is to connect the phone to her laptop via usb and go to palm.com/rom. She did this, press proceed and was aksed to input the serial number. She clicked 'where do i find this' and it says under the battery! doh! So now she's removing the battery, rebooting the phone and going to try again. She's going to let me know how it goes.

They need these tests doing before they consider doing anything with regards to a replacement, although this is exactly what I didnt want to happen i.e. continual replacements after jumping through hoops throughout the contract as the device is [LIFTED]. We'll see what happens. More to follow I guess.

+1

I had a load of issues with in store repairs on my X1, ended up emailing the head office and they sorted it out, refunded my travel costs for the trips (by way of credit on my contract) and sorted out a next day exchange

It's under 6 months old so it's their responsibility to prove it was faulty, which given the number of issues/replacements strongly suggests it isn't due to misuse

I'd find an alternative they offer as close as possible in spec and ask for that as a replacement due to the inability to use the product properly.

Most importantly, be polite and reasonable, but firm (and realistic) with your expectations

If she doesn't want an iPhone what about a Blackberry of some sort?

I was going to suggest (and will probably be ridiculed for it) one of the HTC winmob 6.5 devices, there are some decent free apps available on the marketplace, as well as apps such as opnmarket which are only free apps.

HTC HD2?
Either that or one of the high end Nokia/Blackberry's

Annoyingly they no longer sell the Samsung Android phone which would be a recommendation from me due to the app store

The Motorola Milestone has a physical keyboard and runs Android.

It's not on O2.....

Aside from the non availability of an official upgrade to Windows Mobile 7 I would seriously agree that the HTC HD2 is by the the best phone out there at the moment. In my opinion.

Comparing the XDA roms to the stock ones I'd take a reliable XDA dev rom over a stock one purely on speed and functionality and lack of branding